Can we have a quick conversation about said children's game though? I remember days of fun in kindergarten where we would sit in circles on the floor for what seemed like hours. It would be a constant circle- walk in circles, tapping heads, saying "Duck," until you reached your friend (or maybe kindergarten crush) and smiled widely as you tapped and said "Grey Duck!" and took off at a sprint to make it around the circle and back into that spot. Inevitably someone would slip and fall while sprinting or tap someone's head a little too hard, and the game would have to come to an end. But we always played again!
Now here in the great state of Minnesota, we call this game "Duck, Duck, Grey Duck." A few years ago, I learned that pretty much everyone else in the US calls it "Duck, Duck, Goose." Why the difference? I have no idea. But I like to think it's because us Minnesotans like to stand out a little. Or maybe we're just weird. Either one is fine with me. I accepted my weirdness quite some time ago :)
So what exactly does this game have to do with ANYTHING I might possibly talk about? Enter a thrift store and a pair of brass duck bookends.
These duck bookends, to be exact.
Amazeballs, right?
These duck bookends, to be exact.
Amazeballs, right?
When I saw them sitting on the shelf, I did a little mental happy dance. That's a lie. I think I actually did a little dance in the aisle. But I'm about 60% sure no one saw me, so it's all good!
I grabbed the pair of them (a steal at 6 bucks for both!) and hightailed it out of there with my precious finds in hand.
My first task was to figure out if they were actually brass or just brass-plated. That would determine how I cleaned them. It's easy enough to figure out...if you put a magnet near pure brass, it won't stick. If you put it near plated brass, it would stick to the metal behind the brass.
In my case...magnet didn't stick, so I'm pretty sure they're pure brass! Whoop Whoop!
I looked up how to clean brass, and settled on following Bob Vila's tips on cleaning brass. As an avid public television watcher in my early years, I grew up with Mr. Vila so I trust his tips to not lead me astray.
I started with just hot, soapy water and a toothbrush like the website recommends. You don't want to move on to the more heavy-duty cleaners until you know the simple ones don't work.
It didn't really change anything.
They were still kind of dirty looking and not very shiny. So on to the next idea I went! This one required making a paste out of vinegar, flour and salt.
This was the point where Mr. B looked at me and was like "So, what EXACTLY are you doing with those ducks?"
Yeah, it looked a little crazy. And unfortunately it didn't really get me the result I wanted either. The ducks are still looking dirty and tarnished. Boo. Because how amazing would they look on my bookcases!?!?! Pretty darn amazing, I think.
Any suggestions on other ways to clean them? I'm kinda stumped. Comment below and let me know! In the mean time, I'll be googling "tarnished brassducks" and likely concocting other mysterious pastes to clean these guys up!
I grabbed the pair of them (a steal at 6 bucks for both!) and hightailed it out of there with my precious finds in hand.
My first task was to figure out if they were actually brass or just brass-plated. That would determine how I cleaned them. It's easy enough to figure out...if you put a magnet near pure brass, it won't stick. If you put it near plated brass, it would stick to the metal behind the brass.
In my case...magnet didn't stick, so I'm pretty sure they're pure brass! Whoop Whoop!
I looked up how to clean brass, and settled on following Bob Vila's tips on cleaning brass. As an avid public television watcher in my early years, I grew up with Mr. Vila so I trust his tips to not lead me astray.
I started with just hot, soapy water and a toothbrush like the website recommends. You don't want to move on to the more heavy-duty cleaners until you know the simple ones don't work.
It didn't really change anything.
They were still kind of dirty looking and not very shiny. So on to the next idea I went! This one required making a paste out of vinegar, flour and salt.
This was the point where Mr. B looked at me and was like "So, what EXACTLY are you doing with those ducks?"
Yeah, it looked a little crazy. And unfortunately it didn't really get me the result I wanted either. The ducks are still looking dirty and tarnished. Boo. Because how amazing would they look on my bookcases!?!?! Pretty darn amazing, I think.
Any suggestions on other ways to clean them? I'm kinda stumped. Comment below and let me know! In the mean time, I'll be googling "tarnished brass
Linking up @:
Colby has something that cleans and polishes brass really well. He used it for all the brass details on his dress uniform. I want to say it's Brasso and you should be able to find it at Walmart or Home Depot.
ReplyDeleteOoh, that's a great tip! I'm going to search for some of that stuff this weekend...if it's used for polishing his uniform, it's gotta be good!!
Deletewhat great finds! i do happy dances in aisles, too, sometimes there's clapping to accompany the happy dance. :) so weird about calling the game something different. enjoy, and good luck cleaning them.
ReplyDeleteb